By Yong Kwon
South Korea’s Dresden Doctrine is destined to fail because it is based on the German example of reunification.
The long-delayed Unification Preparatory Committee has finally started work this week. Inaugurated in February, the actual launching of the committee had been postponed by domestic events including the sinking of the ferry Sewol and the controversy over the cabinet nominations. The committee was formed as a means for the Blue House to follow up on President Park’s statement during her New Year’s speech that unification would be “a jackpot” for Korea. More substantively, the committee will examine policy measures that would fulfill the administration’s North Korea policy agendas for “humanity, co-prosperity, and integration,” which President Park highlighted as the foundations for Korean unification during her state visit to Germany in March of this year.
Drawing parallels to inter-German cooperation and contact prior to unification in 1991, President Park proposed that Seoul and Pyongyang cooperate on humanitarian issues, infrastructure development, and restoring a sense of common nationhood that will form the basis for Korean unification. Although this so-called Dresden Doctrine has some salience, the approach as a whole is overly optimistic and blurs the key differences between the Korean and German cases.
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